The Journey To Tortuga
by MosesARose
Summary: Shepard and crew stumbles on a small band of pirates who are in the market for slaves. The small band is part of an even bigger nightmare, that leads Shepard to the infamous planet of Tortuga.


**The Pirates**

It's been two weeks since the Omega 4 relay jump. The Normandy now drifted on the fringes of the terminus systems; far from Alliance space, and even further from Council space. The Normandy and its crew were an unaffiliated entity. Sure Shepard received spectre reinstatement, but only as a formality. News of his Cerberus affiliations weren't taken kindly, and he knew the Council would have placed him in shackles for cooperating with a terrorist organization. But arresting Shepard was publicity they didn't want. The news only got out because the Illusive Man wanted it out; to further isolate Shepard from the Alliance and Council. To make matters worse Cerberus wasn't quite the beacon of hope for humanity as The Illusive Man portrayed it to be.

Shepard have always known the type of shady operations Cerberus had a hand in; even the thresher maw attack on Akuze was their doing. In the back of his mind, a human first agenda was something Shepard sympathized with. A small part of him would have loved to support Cerberus and their ideals. But Cerberus ideals were The Illusive Man's ideals, and The Illusive Man's ideals weren't the ideals of humanity. It was evident that The Illusive Man would sacrifice humanity for his own goals, and he would exclaim those sacrifices were for the good of humanity. Their relationship had ended, with Shepard rigging the collector base to exploded and cutting ties with The Illusive Man.

Shepard lie awake, eyes fixated at the stars overhead out the observation window on his ceiling. He let out a small sigh and glanced over at the person he shared his bed with. His arm was stretch, underneath her head, and he noticed a warm dampness on his bicep as a slight snore began. Shepard moved his arm, jolting his partner only momentary, before she started to snore once more.

"Jack," Shepard whispered. He caused her to stir once more. This time she stretched, with a moan. Then turned over, facing Shepard; her eyes still closed. She placed an arm around him and pulled herself closer, nestling her face closer to his chest. Her head rest under his chin, and he kissed her on top of it. She mumbled something unintelligible, and quickly fell back to sleep. Her snoring resumed. Shepard only smirked and began to closed his eyes.

It wasn't too long until the Normandy's warning alarm began to sound off. Shepard's eye snapped open and he sat up.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Jack groggily opened her eyes, wiping the drool from her mouth.

"Hostiles," was all Shepard was able to muster, as he jumped out of bed. There was a hard jostle to the cabin, almost causing Shepard to lose his balance. "They hit us." Shepard briskly headed towards the lift.

"Who the fuck is shootin' at us this damn late?!" Jack yelled. She began picking her clothes from the floor as Shepard disappeared behind the cabin's door. Warning lights were still echoing; Shepard pressed the CIC floor.

"Shepard we need you on the bridge!" Miranda voice boomed from the intercom, over the warning bells.

"Coming down now!" The lift opened, and there was a quick thrust of the Normandy causing Shepard to lose his balance. He made it back to his feet heading for the bridge, he noticed Kelly. "Harness up Chambers!" He ordered. She nodded.

"What's going on?" Shepard arrived on the flight deck, grasping the neck of Joker's seat as the Normandy went into more evasive maneuvers.

"Three ships, just begun to open fire." Joker's hands moved swiftly over the control board, as the Normandy weaved through gun fire.

"Goddamned terminus pirates." Miranda exclaimed. Shepard scowled.

"Joker, light their asses up!"

"Aye, aye Commander!" Joker flexed his fingers. "Let's show them what you got Edi." The Normandy began to twist and turn with the flick of Joker's wrists. The engines howled, as the ship banked around one of the pirate vessels and let loose a barrage of torpedoes. They hit the target point blank, shredding through the vessel's kinetic barriers and armor. Joker quickly switched directions again, causing the Normandy to ascend. One of the pirate ships tailing close behind. The Normandy dodged more gunfire.

"Jeff, I have hacked into their system mainframe." Edi declared. "I am taking their engines and weapons offline." The ship pursuit of the Normandy ended abruptly; weapons ceased, as the engines died.

"Hang on to your butts kids." Joker's hands moved over the control boards again. Shepard gripped tightened on the neck of Joker's seat, as the Normandy banked hard and flipped, dive bombing the ship that was in tow; ripping through their barriers and armor.

"What about the front runner?" Miranda pointed at the last ship, which was slightly bigger than the other two. Joker maneuvered the Normandy to face the vessel.

"They're just sitting ducks, Edi took their weapons and engines offline," Joker looked up at Shepard. "Just give the word Commander."

Before Shepard could give an order the comm board pinged, as a communication channel opened.

"Commander we have an in coming message from the pirate ship." Edi said.

Shepard brow furrowed, taken off guard a bit by their action.

"Huh...image that Commander, they want to surrender." Joker quipped. "I'd thought they would've put up a better fight than that," he laughed.

"We don't know that yet Joker," Shepard looked at Miranda, who just shrugged. "Patch them through Edi."

There was a small instance of static noise before a voice came over the comm.

"Who do you think you are?" The pirate voice was low and angry. "You shot down my ships! You killed my men!" He ranted.

"What?" Shepard countered, a bit baffled. "If I remember correctly, you shot first!"

The pirate laughed callously.

"You will restore my ship's engines and weapons or-"

"Or what?" Shepard became impatient. "We got you with your thumb up your ass. You're not in the best place to be making demands friend."

"I have 24 slaves on this ship," the pirate blurted. "24 _human_ slaves."

"What does that have to do with me." Shepard called the pirate's bluff.

"I know who you are human," the pirate continued. "I see your colors. You're Cerberus." He cleared his throat. "You have an hour human, or your people will die." The pirate cut communications.

"He's lying Shepard," Miranda asserted. "I don't believe a word of it. We give him back control; he fires on us."

Shepard folded his arms, pulling at the hair on his chin.

"Shepard!" Miranda said again.

"What do you want me to do, fire on them instead." Shepard shook his head. "No, there could be civilians." Shepard began to head down the bridge. Miranda followed.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going." They began to pass the CIC heading towards armory. The ship's lift opened.

"What the fuck is goin' on?!"

"Not now Jack," Miranda kept speed with Shepard, as Jack followed behind. They reached the armory. "You're going…?" She watched Shepard open his armor locker. "Going were; to board their ship? Are you daft? What makes you think they won't kill them out right?"

"I'm goin' with you," Jack smiled, and threw him a pair of pants she'd been carrying. "I think you're goin' to need these boss man."

Shepard caught the garments, and began to dress.

"No, you're not going." Shepard pulled his under armor out from his locker, beginning to put it on.

Jack took firm grasp of Shepard's arm, and frowned.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"He means, you're not going," Miranda interrupted. "Shepard you can't go alone."

Jack lip curled at Miranda, baring her teeth.

"Listen barbie doll, I'm about two seconds from shoving my foot up your plastic as-"

"Enough!" Shepard shouted, as he finished placing his armor on. The suit made a small hissing sound, sealing his body comfortably in. He place his phalanx pistol on his hip slot and his claymore on his lower back slot.

"Miranda, Jack; you two will be my boarding party." He placed his helmet on and began out of the armory towards the airlock. "Take Vakarian with you. I will enter their ship through the escape pod hatch and locate any civilians inside. After which I want the Normandy to dock on their ship and I want you three to secure their deck." The airlock doors opened and Shepard stepped inside. "Ready up and wait for my say so."

The doors closed...

* * *

Hey guys Moses here, I'm finally doing another Mass Effect story. Please let me know if you want more, because as of now I don't know if I'm going to finish it or not. I have so much going on. But If there is a lot of you that want to continue with it i'll try to push out more chapters. Just let me know what you think. Thanks guys!


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